The present disclosure is related to heart valve repair, and more particularly to devices, systems, and methods for Transcatheter Aortic-Valve Implantation (TAVI).
Prosthetic heart valves that are collapsible to a relatively small circumferential size can be delivered into a patient less invasively than valves that are not collapsible. For example, a collapsible valve may be delivered into a patient via a tube-like delivery apparatus such as a catheter, a trocar, a laparoscopic instrument, or the like. This collapsibility can avoid the need for a more invasive procedure such as full open-chest, open-heart surgery.
Collapsible prosthetic heart valves typically take the form of a valve structure mounted on a stent. There are two types of stents on which collapsible valves are mounted: a self-expanding stent and a balloon-expandable stent. To place a collapsible valve into a delivery apparatus and ultimately into a patient, the valve must first be collapsed or crimped to reduce its circumferential size.
When a collapsed valve has reached the desired implant site in the patient (e.g., at or near the annulus of the patient's heart valve that is to be replaced by the prosthetic valve), the prosthetic valve can be released from the delivery apparatus and re-expanded to full operating size.